Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Achieves A Grade for 3 Consecutive Years... "Excellent COVID-19 Response and Preparedness"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs received an A grade in the comprehensive government performance evaluation for three consecutive years. It was evaluated to have achieved excellent results in areas such as job creation, response to national tasks, regulatory innovation, and government innovation.

According to the '2020 Performance Results' of 43 central administrative agencies announced by the Office for Government Policy Coordination on the 26th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs received the highest A grade for three consecutive years in the government performance evaluation until last year. It recorded the highest rating in all three categories: ▲job creation and national tasks ▲regulatory innovation ▲government innovation.

In particular, last year, the ministry's projects such as ▲eco-friendly agricultural product packages ▲agricultural product exports through new market development and marketing ▲establishment of a safe dining culture (including the Deoreoyo campaign) ▲nationwide non-face-to-face transactions in agricultural product wholesale distribution were recognized as excellent cases.

The eco-friendly agricultural product package project delivers agricultural products to students' households. When school openings were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school meals were suspended, causing a sharp decline in the consumption of agricultural products used in school meals by 5.5 million students nationwide. As the management difficulties of producers and suppliers nationwide intensified, in April last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs collaborated with related ministries and local governments to start providing agricultural product packages to students' households using remaining budgets. It is estimated that this generated a consumption effect of 375.1 billion KRW in meal budgets and 45,000 tons of agricultural products.

In agricultural product exports, online and non-face-to-face marketing and logistics support were promoted. As a result, kimchi exports achieved the highest ever export amount in just the third quarter, increasing by 37.6% compared to the same period last year, and gochujang exports rose by 35.2%.

Also, after the Prime Minister's directive in April last year, when the dining industry faced a crisis, safe restaurants were designated nationwide and received favorable reviews. Last year, a total of 23,467 locations were designated as safe restaurants across 17 cities and provinces nationwide, exceeding the target.

The government performance evaluation A grade is awarded to only 30% of all evaluated agencies. B and C grades are given to 50% and 20%, respectively. This year, six ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Ministry of Health and Welfare received the A grade.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.